Trampoline with elastic net covered by wrapping fabric

ABSTRACT

A trampoline includes a jumping fabric having peripheral edges weaved together with an elastic net surrounding the jumping fabric wherein the elastic net having outer edges wrapped around and attached to a supporting bottom frame supported on a plurality of legs.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

The present invention claims an International Priority of a co-pending Chinese Application 201310348785.7 filed on Aug. 12, 2013 filed by the inventor of this Patent Application. The disclosures made in Chinese Application 201310348785.7 are hereby incorporated by reference in this Application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to exercise and/or gaming apparatuses. More particularly, this invention relates to a trampoline comprises elastic net wrapping around a bottom frame structure and covered with a jumping fabric and further surrounded with upper fencing net to provide safe and economic exercise apparatuses.

2. Description of the Related Art

Even though as a personal exercise apparatus the trampolines are well known and furthermore, a trampoline is commonly used as an economical physical fitness device, there are still safety concerns and liability issues related to the long term use of the trampolines. A conventional trampoline typically includes a trampoline frame to support the basic structure for mounting a jumping bed supported on a plurality of coil springs and a plurality of upright legs. The legs are adapted to be disposed uprightly on a ground surface and vertically coupled to the frame in a spaced relationship to each other. The frame may be flexibly configured to have different shapes that define a bed mounting space form mounting the jumping bed. The jumping bed typically includes a mat member with a peripheral spring attachment portion. The trampoline further includes a plurality of coupling members coupled to the coil springs and that are further coupled to a plurality of frame mounting members such as hooks, ring or eye to peripherally mount to the inner circumference of the frame. Thus, the jumping bed is resiliently suspended off the ground and held in the mounting space by the frame and the springs to allow users to jump thereon without hitting the ground.

However, the conventional trampolines as described above have several disadvantages. First of all, the trampolines are configured as rigid structures that occupied large space. The rigid structural configuration increases the costs of storage and shipment for the manufacturer and sellers of the products. Due to the large space requirements, the rigid structures that occupy large space also cause inconvenience for the individual users of the trampoline. Secondly, the trampolines are configured with coil springs and then covered with pads to protect persons from direct contact with the springs, the hooks and the mounting mechanisms. The pads required for the conventional trampolines cause the production costs to increase. Additionally, there are safety problems related to the reliability and stability of the springs. In addition to the durability of the springs of the trampolines, there are further issues with the stability and balance between springs when multiple springs are utilized. Thirdly, the usable space for jumping of the conventional trampoline is limited to the central portion of the jumping bed due to the facts that the peripheral edges of the springs are not usable and that further limits the usable areas of the conventional trampolines.

As there are greater demands for exercise apparatuses with an ever increasing awareness of the benefits of physical fitness, there is an urgent need to overcome these limitations caused by the safety, reliability and space occupancy concerns.

Therefore, for a person of ordinary skill in the art of making and using the trampolines, there is a need to provide new and improved configurations and methods for making and using the trampolines such that the above-mentioned limitations and difficulties can be resolved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an aspect of present invention to develop new and improved trampolines in response to the present state of the art, and in particular, in response to the problems and needs in the art that have not yet been fully solved by currently available trampolines as described above.

In one embodiment of the invention, a trampoline apparatus is disclosed. Instead of utilizing springs for supporting the jumping pad as that disclosed in the conventional trampolines, the trampolines of this invention securely attach a jumping bed fabric to an elastic net to provide safety, comfort and fast reaction in using the trampolines. The trampoline is further provided with upper fencing net to protect jumpers from falling off from the trampolines thus greatly increases the usefulness and safety of the trampolines.

Reference throughout this specification to features, characteristic, advantages, or similar language does not imply that all of the features and advantages that may be realized with the present invention should be or are in any single embodiment of the invention. Rather, language referring to the features and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature, advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, discussion of the features and advantages, and similar language, throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment.

Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the invention.

These features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention as set forth hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order for the advantages of the invention to be readily understood, a more particular description of the invention briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments that are illustrated in the appended drawing(s). It is noted that the drawings of the invention are not to scale. The drawings are mere schematics representations, not intended to portray specific parameters of the invention. Understanding that these drawing(s) depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not, therefore, to be considered to be limiting its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawing(s), in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a trampoline according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings, and specific language will be used to describe the same, for the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended. Any alterations and further modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, and any additional applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered within the scope of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 for a trampoline of this invention. The trampoline includes a jumping bed 15 composed of a jumping fabric weaved together with an elastic net 12 for attaching to a supporting frame wherein the supporting frame includes a bottom frame structure 2 attached to and supported on legs 3. In an embodiment, the elastic net 12 are weaved with strings having high degree of elasticity to provide bouncing and springing characteristics when a user of the trampoline is jumping on the jumping bed 15. In an embodiment, the elastic net 12 is formed with strings weaved together with holes having a trapezoid shape having an elongated axis oriented along a longer direction of the trapezoid and an shorter axis aligned with a width direction of the trapezoid. The elastic net 12 has the advantages of fast reaction and strong bouncing characteristics. The trapezoid shape of the elastic net 12 further provide an advantage that a shorter sides of the trapezoid is configured to dispose on the inner side and the longer sides are disposed on the outer side of the elastic net. The useable area of the jumping bed 15 providing jumping exercise space is enhanced because there are no sharp angles in such configuration.

The shapes of the jumping bed 15 may be configured as shape of a circle, oval, polygon or square. The bottom frame structure 2 comprises two symmetrical parts and these two parts are linked together by a linking mechanism that may be folded such that the trampoline can be collapsed and folded to occupy a smaller space for storage and shipment. As shown in FIG. 1, the bottom frame structure 2 are supported on six legs 3 and linked together with six linking rods 14 connected through six four-way adapters 11. On two opposite sides of two symmetrical linking rods are also two foldable linking mechanisms 10 to fold the bottom frame 2 into a folded piece such that the trampoline only occupies only half of the space.

In order to increase the safety, as the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the trampoline further includes an upper surrounding fence 1 with fencing net 5 linking between six of the upper vertical rods 4. Each of these upper vertical rods 4 is connected to the bottom structure 2 through the four-way linking adaptors 11 and linking to top horizontal rods 7 laterally extends on top between two of the upper vertical rods 4.

The top surrounding fence 1 is configured to have substantially the same shape and size as the bottom frame structure 2 and further includes the same linking foldable mechanisms 8, same or similar to the foldable linking mechanisms 10 to symmetrically fold the upper surrounding fence 2 in order to reduce the necessary space for storing or shipping the trampolines.

The upper horizontal linking rods 7 are linked together with six three-way linking adapter 6. The elastic net is securely attached to the bottom frame 2 through the synthetic fiber belts 13 wrapping around the linking rods 14. The fencing net 3 is attached to the top horizontal linking rods 7 through elastic fixing belts 9 and is further sewn together with the elastic net 12 on the bottom to provide further protection and safety for the users of the trampoline. The top surrounding fence thus prevent a user to fall out of the trampoline and would be most suitable for use by small children not yet aware of their own safety when jumping on the jumping bed.

By replacing the conventional springs with the elastic net 12, the extra layer of pad can be eliminated thus achieving cost savings. Furthermore, comparing to the conventional trampolines made with springs, the elastic net 12 of this invention achieves better safety by removing the concerns that the feet of the jumper may fall into the spaces between the springs and the toes of smaller feet may even be trapped between the wires of the springs thus causing greater harms and injuries. The shape of a hexagonal upper fence of this invention provide improved space arrangements and further provide better protection and safety for the jumping exercisers on the trampoline because less likelihood of falling and colliding with the structural rods or frames. Further advantages are achieved by making the trampolines foldable thus saving the cost of providing spaces for storing and shipping the products made with the configuration disclosed in this invention.

Thus, while the present invention has been fully described above with particularity and detail in connection with what is presently deemed to be the most practical and preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications, including, but not limited to, variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use may be made, without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention as set forth in the claims. Further, it is contemplated that an embodiment may be limited to consist of, or to consist essentially of, one or more of the functions, features, structures, and/or methods described herein. 

1. A trampoline comprising: a jumping fabric having peripheral edges weaved together with an elastic net surrounding the jumping fabric wherein the elastic net having outer edges wrapped around and attached to a supporting bottom frame supported on a plurality of legs.
 2. The trampoline of claim 1 wherein: the elastic net is weaved with a plurality of elastic strings wherein each of the elastic strings further comprises a core composed of latex or spandex wrapped around with an outer synthetic fiber layer.
 3. The trampoline of claim 1 wherein: the supporting bottom frame is configured with two half parts symmetrical to a central axis.
 4. The trampoline of claim 3 wherein: the supporting bottom frame further includes a foldable link disposed along the central axis to allow the supporting bottom frame to fold along the central axis.
 5. The trampoline of claim 1 further comprising: an upper surrounding fence comprises fencing net linking between a plurality of upper vertical rods each of the rods is connected to the bottom structure through a linking adaptors.
 6. The trampoline of claim 5 wherein: the upper surrounding fence is configured with two half parts symmetrical to a central axis.
 7. The trampoline of claim 6 wherein: the upper surrounding fence further includes a foldable link disposed along the central axis to allow the upper surrounding fence to fold along the central axis.
 8. The trampoline of claim 5 wherein: the upper surrounding fence further having substantially a same shape and size with the supporting bottom frame.
 9. The trampoline of claim 5 wherein: the fencing net of the upper surrounding fence is attached the supporting bottom frame through net strings composed of a synthetic fiber.
 10. The trampoline of claim 5 further comprising: top horizontal rods laterally extends on top between two of the upper vertical rods and the fencing net of the upper surrounding fence having an upper part attached to the horizontal rods through elastic net strings. 